Improvement in photography



U ITED STATEs HENRY A. MAROHANT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD D. MAROHANT, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN PHOTOGRAPHY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17,858, dated July 21, 1857.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. MAROHANT, of the city of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Photography, for the purpose of inclosing designs or pictures permanently from air and damp in such a state as to admit of their being colored with great truth and beauty, developing with remarkable minuteness every detail of texture and surface; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of my process.

After selecting the engraving or photograph and obtaining two plates of glass of suitable dimensions, I commence by laying one of said plates flat on a table, and I pour upon it sufficient of the mixture hereinafter described,

heated to a fiuid state, to cover its surface. I then lay the photograph or engraving on this fluid and pour upon it a quantity of the melted mixture sufficient to cover it. Then, with as much dexterity as possible. I lay the second glass over all, being careful that the glasses and picture keep their places. Then I subject all, while the mixture is still in a warm state, to a steady and close pressure under a screw-press for a few minutes, in order to drive out air and all excess of the mixture, during which time the whole mass solidifies. While undergoing this process the paper containing the design is rendered transparent, and a beautiful medium is formed for the transmis sion of color, which, being applied at the back of the first described glass with judgment and taste, develops the shades and lines of the picture with great beauty and accuracy.

The ingredients of the above-described mixture are about half a pound of clarified wax, half a pound of rectified spirits of turpentine, and about a pound of pure gum dammar. These proportions I consider best for securing the desired solidity for permanence and the sufficient degree of fluidity for working, when properly tempered by heat; but it is difficult to describe with perfect accuracy the proportions of these ingredients, as their relative degrees of strength, vary with the different degrees of heat to which they may be subjected. 7 A few experiments, however, will remove all uncertainty in their use, provided care be taken to prevent the mixture from becoming, when cold, either brittle or too soft.

My improvement consists in the contrivance of the compound and the mode of applying the same by the agency of heat and under pressure, so as to render the picture transparent, and also to'secure it from air and dampness, and in a solid state. This compound or'mixture, while it performs the important part of rendering the picture transparent, at the same time so firmly and effectually attaches it to the glass that no external binding or bandaging is needed to retain it in the desired position for any period of time;

. The advantages and value of my invention will, I think, be apparent when I say that a person with a fair degree of expertness and judgment is enabled by it to prepare his design with complete permanency, secure its transparency and color, and fully develop his picture with the greatest beauty and truth of effect in three or four hours from the time it is first placed in his hands in the state of a plain print in mere black and white.

Having thus described my improvement, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The rendering of the picture transparent and attaching the same to glass in a permanent and secure manner by means of a mixture, substantially such as described above, applied under heat and pressure in the manner and for the purpose above mentioned.

HENRY A. MARCHANT.

Witnesses:

J. H. B. JENKINS, G120. HARDING. 

